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Stonegate Bay

Hello again,

After my first map here, Free Falling, I thought to hit you guys with a second. As with the first one, I didn't go for a classic map with legend and stuff, instead I tried to bring you something more or less artistic. Since my abilities in drawing are yet limited (I'm still learning and try to finesse my hand), I hope you will still like it, it took me a lot of work and concentration.

So, this is it, enjoy!

Cheers!

P.S. Technical: There are some issues with this image, though: the perspective - it's quite random in some places (but I hope you won't see, at least not the first time ), also the map lines - they create an optical illusion and distort the real perspective, the shadows - some of them are slightly weird, and the table edge - I'm not quite satisfied with the result. Overall, a good eye will see these things without me telling about them... I'm aware about eventual mistakes, but this is my best... I'm working on it.

After my first map here, Free Falling, I thought to hit you guys with a second. As with the first one, I didn't go for a classic map with legend and stuff, instead I tried to bring you something more or less artistic. Since my abilities in drawing are yet limited (I'm still learning and try to finesse my hand), I hope you will still like it, it took me a lot of work and concentration.

This is one seriously nice map!!! I would rep you, but I did for your other map and have to spread some rep around first. As you said, the only thing I can see is the table transition, though I have no idea how to possibly help fix.

A shadow is a region of darkness where light is blocked by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the light.

Heh... kidding

@@@

Great piece of artwork altceva!!! especially with all that 'limited' artistic skill

It's Stonegate Bay, Berry Island, and the battle should be like... 17th century?

Heh. Yeah, I should have changed the year to match the pieces. As for the placenames, they're dang hard to read at that angle and obscured.

I just bought Diplomacy a couple of weeks ago, so that was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the image. The pieces look more appropriate to Risk, but that's not obscure enough. And with the ships... maybe it's Seafarers of Risk. Or something.

Would you be willing to share how you did it? Programs used and techniques? This is exactly a style I like!

Thank you...

Well, I'm a beginner in Photoshop, so this is the only program I used. I worked exclusively with Pen tool and Brush tool. The only custom shape I used is the table edge golden model, it is a default ornament in Photoshop custom shapes. I build the map first, then free transformed it for perspective view. Drawing soldiers was fun. Shadows are copies of the images temselves filled with black, vertically flipped, transformed, opacitiy reduced and slightly blured.
Simple as that.